L.A. has a history of not supporting teams in losing seasons. This is going to be a trainwreck. The Charges are going to play in a 27,000 seat stadium for the next 2 years? C'mon man...
That fair, Regier's moves made the decision to tank an easy one. The true haul was #15 however. I'll stop talking hockey, there's a Sabres thread in the Off The Wall forum.
There wasn't a conspiracy.
Regier had no choice other than to "suffer" thanks to his previous moves. What you were watching in the fall of 2013 was simply a lousy hockey team trying to rebuild. When Murray came aboard the decision to actually try to lose games was made.
Off topic a bit, but Murray wasn't even with the organization when Nolan was hired. The tank didn't start until they jettisoned Miller, and Pat wanted no part of that and walked out the door a day later.